By the time Zahn returned to the fallen bear monster, he found the hulking Barbarians carving the beast into segments and hauling its bounty away. Gardor met them with a wave, and after explaining to Ethan how the steaks had been offered they both accepted the dinner invitation.

“I made certain we would not damage the beast’s shoulders, little cheat.” Gardor gestured at the slaughtered and butchered carcass, “You should be able to take the fire patterns from its hide for your magicks. A fair trade for the meat.”

Ethan gingerly picked up the hide with two fingers, dragging the corner into his bag where it was sucked in and vanished like it had never been. “You’re going to be treating that, by the way.”

Zahn patted his own belt bag, “When mine can vacuum in pelts I’ll be the one carrying them too.”

“I keep telling you, it’s the tier you buy. You seriously need to do some basic-ass shopping.” Their conversation carried on and brought the Players into the shared common room of the Barbarian tribesmen, where the fire bear flanks were roasting and sizzling.

Zahn found his thoughts returning to the captured memory, sitting in his mind’s eye and looking like a dark swirling mass wrapped in bright purple bands. Each time he blinked he got another flash of the image, leaving him stumbling and kicking a chair as he struggled to balance the outer and inner worlds.

“It seems you’ve yet another prize to unseal,” Jadfbug’s deep voice sounded from across the room. “When Gardor told us of your prized Cinder Bear meat, I suspected you would not have given up such a delicacy without another motive. From the glow in your eyes, you’re wrestling with something you’ve received with your mental magicks?” The large chieftain leaned into view from across the table, gripping Zahn’s face lightly as he lifted the dazed Player’s eyes to meet his own.

Zahn blinked slowly and fought for consciousness as he realized he was looking at someone else’s eyes and forced himself to look away. The motion caused him to see the stolen memory again, pulsing as its magenta light grew brighter.

“Easy now,” another familiar voice sounded to his left but Zahn couldn’t quite turn his head to see who it was. “Looks like he’s going under.”

“Not asleep,” the deep rumble of Jadfbug returned from in front again. “He’s falling into a trance. Look at his eyes.”

Before the unsteady Player could process they were talking about him, his eyelids finished closing and he was drawn into his ever-stronger distraction. The surrounding darkness enveloped him, wrapping around his body like a cloak. He could feel the weight of it settle, as if he’d slipped under a blanket and now sat with the prize before him. The strange mass writhed and moved closer, almost like a living thing that would seek to devour him.

“Don’t try to overpower your prize, you’ve already won it.” Sound came from somewhere, leaving Zahn wondering just where he was instead of the Barbarians’ commons. “You must meditate on the memory you’ve stolen. Focus on what it is, learn from it. Meditate, your friend insists you know how.”

Ignoring the jibe at his lack of ability, Zahn focused on the message being delivered. Trying to slip into a relaxed state wasn’t easy with the bright weight of the psychic mass before him, but he tried to ignore the building heat and find his center. Dropping into his Core let the Custom open his eyes, finding the table he sat at crowded by huge men. Everyone around him bore serious and concerned expressions, with their leader staring intently at him over steepled fingers. Closing his eyes once more, he tried looking at the memory again from his new perspective and found himself being drawn into the bands holding it.

The first memory took away his senses, leaving him floating in a void as the recall began to play. He was drawn to a sense of disturbance, of noise buzzing and growing louder until it coalesced into a vibrating weave. It seemed to flicker in the darkness, like a tiny light shaded olive green as it formed its thinnest line. The strand thickened and widened as he stared at it, growing larger in presence until the buzzing noise solidified into gibberish words spoken high and low at differing speeds. The strange garbled language continued until he could see the mass of tangled green knots and jumping jagged lines of varying emerald shades.

Falling into the tangled mass as it grew larger and closer, Zahn expected the noises and voices to get louder but instead he found more of them. The confusing mess of words and noise joined with even more noise and chaos, rising and overlapping to slowly deafen him as he landed. Trying to focus on a single noise, the Custom found himself hearing a single familiar tone repeating comfortingly. The green tangle drew closer faster, swelling huge in his vision until it felt like he was falling into a planet from orbit. Finally landing felt like he’d become a body of only his torso, without any feeling in his arms or legs he still felt the pull of being drawn into the constantly shifting energy.

The deep voice he’d been listening for grew louder, clearer as it came and went like a fast-moving tide. “Must remember… Don’t try… Make choices… Strands without… He’s burning… See a path… Demons always… ” The strange messages sounded like the speaker was out of breath, spoken down a long tunnel. The distortion warbled the speaker’s voice, and Zahn was starting to doubt what he’d heard when the voice of the Barbarian chieftain sounded in his ear.

“Talk to us lad. You haven’t said a word, but Ethan here tells me you’re in some advanced Meditative state where you can talk and move. Prove him right, if you can.”

Zahn coughed as he tried to speak, finding his throat tight with the pressure falling from above. “Ahak. Hi, yeah I can speak. Sorry, I was just, really sleepy before. I’ve fallen into the memory thing, I’m not sure what it even is. It’s so loud here.”

Nothing seemed to answer for several breaths, making Zahn think something went wrong with their communication when the voice suddenly sounded from his right.

“Hey man! So, dad says you need to be focusing on the voices, and not listening to ours. Oh shit, that means I’m distracting you. Good luck!” Gardor’s cheerful voice was slightly muffled as he smacked and chewed on something, but the Player took some comfort that he hadn’t randomly lost his ability to speak to the outside world.

Trying to push through the noises felt like he was being bombarded from all directions. Reaching out with his thoughts to tackle the first wildly pulsating line of green felt like he’d grabbed a live wire and numbed an unknown portion of his invisible body. “Agh, fuck. I’m numb where I didn’t even know I had feeling before. Where the fuck even am I?”

“Don’t try to navigate.” Jadfbug’s voice returned, bringing back its deep reassuring rumble.

Releasing the vibration let it fall in line with its next closest, knocking one into another in rapid succession. Zahn tried to move past his chain reaction and found the strange landscape to be nearly impossible to move in. He could see a horizon of darkness with a wide visible curve, but the entire landmass was completely made up of green jagged dancing lines. “It feels like every step is being held back, as if my feet are chained or bound, or stuck underground.”

“You’re untangling layers, not sorting through a pile.” The deep voice of the Barbarian returned, making him pause in his efforts to move around. “Try to pull strands apart without tearing them, you’ll likely want everything that’s there to be intact.”

Pushing his mental self downwards into the massive tangle, Zahn found himself sliding between the bizarre buzzing voice lines as if navigating deadly seaweed. The moving jagged green looked like a puzzle path from hell without even the benefit of a side view, but the Player pushed through and took the numbing pulses from each line as he passed them. Eventually his entire vision was filled with nearly solid green and he couldn’t feel anything of his non-physical body when something began to happen within the emerald veil.

“Tell me what you see.” Zahn had no idea what visual cues he’d given, but the chief’s voice once again returned with instruction.

“I don’t. Everything’s dark, I’m standing on a mass of writhing green. It’s cold here, someone’s standing right behind me.”

Voices emerged from the surrounding noise, sounding at first like an arguing crowd before quieting all the surrounding buzzing noise and taking Zahn’s attention.

“I’ve handled it,” the Ringmaster’s voice sounded smug, and the feelings of shock and mirth were immediately following. “You’ll see, it’ll be delivered and installed just before your fight. Two’s little game will be over, and you’ll finally have your justice.” A surge of joy chased the speech, the feeling of triumph almost filling his chest. The Ringmaster’s voice continued, muffled and distorted as its source became revealed in red. The jumping and flickering red line moved and spiked itself to perfectly transcribe the noises being made as it clashed vividly against the green background. That red felt like burden, a heavy weight and the taste of blood. He could hear the crack of a whip and thud of his own greataxe into targets.

Someone answered, flashing into life as a bright silver jumping line and laying across the red at a diagonal. Its muffled words were pitched high, making his heart pound with adrenaline and the taste of victory. The silver line as a source of pride, shining as it struck through his doubts and brought them to the top. Finally, the words slowed down and finished with, “ We shouldn’t take any chances. Bring in another if we have to.”

“I am not tolerating another filthy Player in these walls,” a third voice sounded off. The deep blue line complemented its green backing, vibrating as it jumped into life. “We already have one of the nasty things, and you want another just to drain a stupid count? Let’s just use the one we have.” The voice was always confident and kind, practical to a fault. It felt like camaraderie, brotherhood, even compassion with guilt staining the bond.

“His training with Two overrides the training clause in his contract,” the red line moved again. “Because of the terms that sneaky Rogue set, we can’t invoke his customized terms to take his life. Even after pushing the Player’s contract on him, Two claimed all of his time until the day of the next fight. That’s when you’ll have your fun.”

The recall ended on its own, the three colored lines fading before the green monochrome field of view disappeared with it. The new planetoid moved slower, with Zahn’s intangible form gliding over the writhing lines slightly faster than before. They still shone green, darker than the first layer and thicker as they made their way around and vibrated to constantly make overlapping noise.

“Talk to us,” the deep voice returned from above and somewhere in front. “You can get lost in another’s memories.”

As the echo of his rumble faded, someone nearby ran their fingers lightly down Zahn’s spine, tapping the nubs with a cold stroke.

“Agh, fuck! Whoever just did that, cut the shit. Everything’s still green, I’m standing on a smaller ball of wiggling buzzing lines. It’s like the ground is made out of captured conversations all twisted together.” Rolling his intangible shoulders at the personal violation, the Custom was ready to dive into another part of the stolen memory rather than get groped by an invisible stranger again.

Turning his focus into the ‘ground’ let Zahn push himself into the memory and try to find the next clear conversation. Burrowing for what felt like dozens of feet finally began to sound intelligibly until he could make out the words.

“I don’t really care. You’ll pay me the new amount or you’ll receive nothing.” The sudden speaker leapt onto the green backdrop, his voice bristling like sparks and as bright yellow as sunlight. “Charge your attendees more. I don’t care.” Zahn could taste blood as he spoke, his tone both bored and dangerous.

“You’ll get your money.” The master’s red tone rippled across behind the yellow splashes, looking like a thread being pulled. “When can you perform the installation?”

A third voice joined, weaving the previous two together with its dark green and brown tones. “The delivery and installation can occur on the same day. If your contractor’s measurements are accurate, I can sink the metal wall over the entrance in a matter of minutes.”

“Of course they’re accurate,” yellow’s voice snapped again as the jagged sparking line danced brightly. Zahn could taste copper again, and smelled something smoking at the edge of his senses.

“I meant no offense.” The third voice continued calm and measured, earning the deep respect Zahn could feel coming off of him. The awe held for such a man had something deeper running under it, something darker. As the Player focused on the third voice, the other two peeled away and left him alone with the strange mixed color.

“How much longer can he stay like this?” The new voice came from outside, sounding nearly as loud as a shout compared to the buzzing echoes.

“For as long as his magic can sustain him. We tried feeding him before, but he wouldn’t react.” The roasting smell from the bear flanks continued to grow, as if he’d been sitting in a smokehouse instead of a commons.

“I can still hear you,” Zahn failed to resist talking back to the crowd. “I’m almost done this memory, but I need to see what this is. Something’s here.”

“You’re going to collapse…” Ethan’s fading voice found him before the buzzing rose in volume once more. Surrounded by shades of green, Zahn’s awareness paused and listened for any more from the outside world before turning his focus back to the dual strand.

The colors twisted and spun together, weaving like a two-part braid seamlessly. Zahn couldn’t distinguish them as he followed the combination, but he continued to receive feedback about the speaker from fragmented memories and feelings.

The previous feeling of profound respect returned, validated by an ongoing impression of power and wisdom. Flashes of green light and brown waves flickered in Zahn’s eyes as the display ran past. Fight after fight where massive power and measured focus were used together to bring about wide area devastation and drop the greatest of warriors. The vibrating string continued to speak, its conversations broken and out of order. He couldn’t hear much clearly, but snippets of words came through clearer than others. “I’m sorry… lost… no more…”

Finally, the strings split apart. The golden brown rose high in a loop as the dark green trembled on its own. Following the brown, Zahn found more impressions of power and wisdom, leaving him to explore the unsteady emerald strand.

As soon as his mental digits felt the vibration, the Player’s mind was whisked away from its path entirely. Zahn found himself somewhere dark, painful, and even colder than before. The world felt hostile, as if the very ground didn’t want him there.

“Ah, guys? I think I found something.” His voice sounded small and thready, as if he’d spent hours talking. “I was following someone’s voice, and I slipped into something else. Anyone hear me?”

Nobody answered, with only the smell of burning meat growing as the seconds ticked by. Trying to lift his arms brought only pain, as Zahn realized he had a body again and every inch of his new skin hurt. Everywhere not covered by his simple ratty clothes scraped and felt raw, with the air tasting of dirt and salt.

A deep series of rumbles shook the rough world around him, like thunder in the distance. “He’s burning up.” “Looks like he’s tryin’ ta shit.” “Get some rags, move him to the floor.”

Trying to move proved fruitless, with each twist of his torso driving the sharp surroundings into his tender body again. He grunted and gasped for air as his lungs tried to inflate. The earth seemed to grip his chest, with constant pressure from ahead and behind as the squeezing pitiless stone and dirt closed in.

Somewhere above, a distant muffled voice sounded out staining the darkness crimson. “You… will… learn!” Each word spoken echoed far away, sounding as if he were buried in a great theater.

Buried. The thought resonated as Zahn struggled in his tiny body. I’ve been buried. The thought repeated, sounding smaller than his internal narrative had before. I’m stuck down here. The voice in his head grew to a full child’s whine, plaintive and unanswered in the dark. Does anyone care? Breathing became harder and harder, with shallow choked breaths coming faster in his panic. Won’t anyone help me?

Twisting and thrashing as he felt tears coursing down the child’s face, Zahn racked his terrified mind for a solution. I can’t move. I can’t breathe. I can’t even see my HUD. He froze, the world feeling colder and colder as he tried to process what he just said to himself. I can’t see it. I don’t have a display. This is part of the memory.

As if telling himself what was going on was enough, Zahn slowly opened his eyes to see a crowd looming over him. The huge stern faces melted with relief as he coughed, tasting salt and copper in his mouth. The bearded head of Jadfbug bent close as the chieftain plucked at Zahn’s eyelid, peering at what lay beneath.

“You gave us a scare, lad. I hope your prize was worth it.”

Trying to sit up, Zahn found himself lying on the recently skinned bear fur with dozens of cloth lengths draped over his body. His head began to pound as soon as he moved, and the dim lights of the room suddenly stung his eyes. The small icon he’d set to hold pop-ups until he could be bothered to deal with them remained a solid purple, shining even when he closed his eyes. Yay, the HUD’s back. Yay, right? Fuck. Looking over his returned display, he saw for the first time his Mana bar was depleted. The empty vein looked foriegn and wrong without its customary azure filling, making him feel newly vulnerable without his endless magic supply.

Mentally clicking the button with a sigh, Zahn lay back down on the makeshift bed and sorted through the windows. The stream of squares flowed over one another into a massive pile, looking like a double handful of unwanted annoyances growing from a dot to fill his vision. The final window to appear blocked out all the others, sitting larger and with a decorative background compared to the normal screens. The magenta rectangle bore darker violet borders with a shifting gradient from red to blue behind the words. The ornate window even had a heading, declaring ‘Congratulations’ to the Player.

Congratulations, Young mentalist!

You have taken the first of many grand steps along your journey!

By unlocking your first Psychic Technique, the realm of new magic is in your mind’s eye.

You have unlocked the following Techniques: Psychic Suppression.

You have gained significant progress in unlocking the following Techniques: Psychic Grip, Memory Steal.

As you develop your own unique mental powers, you will gain increased proficiency in these abilities and many more.

Consult your Master for your next task, talented Young!

Psychic Techniques partially unlocked:

‘Mind’ domain: ‘Body’ domain:

Mind Battle - 59/100 Body Dominion - 6/100

Mind Link - Chat 15/50 Body Twist - 1/50

Mind Dominion - 2/100

Mind Screech - 22/50

Mind Grip - 1/100

Mind Steal - 1/100

Mind Shape - 65/100

Mind Twist - 1/100

Psychic Techniques fully unlocked:

Mind Suppression (passive): Contort your mental weave to twist within yourself. Use your own physical vessel to conceal your mental prowess and contain stolen awareness. By bending your psychic weave onto itself, you can retract your mind into itself and hide your powers. While active, your own thoughts are difficult to read and you cannot hear the minds of others.

Mind Suppression (active): Dull the thoughts of another, flexing your mighty prowess to slow their wits. By pushing your mental magic into the skull of another, you can slow or stall the active thoughts of your victim. Most effective when paired with [Mind Grip] to maintain an ongoing link through combat.

Attention Player!

You have experienced Mind Zero, the result of draining all of your own Mana!

This is not normally possible, as your passive Mana Regeneration Rate (ask your Class Trainer to show you where to find this!) should keep your mind sustained even through the most strenuous of spellcasting. However, under extreme circumstances it is possible for the Mana demand being placed on your body to exceed your own natural Mana Regeneration Rate even outside of the constraints placed on combat.

While under the effects of Mind Zero, you have difficulty seeing the world around you as you cannot see the Display to highlight and navigate. As your magic power returns, you will replenish Mana to essential systems before the magic becomes available for you to use.

See your Class Trainer for tips and tricks on how to avoid falling prey to this again!

Attention Mentalist!

You have spent far too long delving into the mind of another without protection. You have absorbed one or more of the other mind’s trait(s).

Congratulations!

You have fully viewed a stolen memory from your victim.

As you are the thief, you gain full understanding of your target(s) from the memory.

You have learned of plans being made against you!

You have learned of a dire weakness in your foe(s)!

You have learned of a Worst Fear!

You have learned of another’s Worst Fear.

The Worst Fear of [Marston Emmaus] is to be buried alive.

Using this knowledge is Evil.

You have delved deeper into Chaos.

Chaos sees deeper into you.

Congratulations Player!

You have successfully viewed another’s memories without guidance.

You have gained insight into the Psychic school of Magic!

“Dwell not on the suffering of others, but inflict pain by holding onto your own suffering.”

-Mairse deNorr

Attention Player!

Your mind has become damaged due to overheating and untempered use of high-level mental magic.

Your mind cannot support the strain of doing so again until it heals.

You cannot use Psychic-type magic for: 12 hours.

Continued use will increase the severity of the damage and increase the healing duration, up to death.

Closing the final window and staring up at the ceiling, Zahn tried to sort out his thoughts. The knowledge that he could seriously hurt himself by playing with mind magic wasn’t surprising by itself, but feeling how close he came to actual damage made his heart pound. As he tried to calm himself down, Zahn felt a warm wet breath on the back of his neck, brushing aside the bear furs he was laying on. The message about Chaos knowing him better came back to mind, replaying the moments when something else was invisibly fondling his back during the memory.

Trying to shake himself to lose the chills was enough for Ethan to finally chime in. “So, what did you get from him?” The Warlock bent closer on his chair, leaning his elbows on his knees. Looking at the other Player showed Zahn a small cluster of blue lights shifting like silt in a pond just inside the base of his mind.

Blinking rapidly and shifting his gaze from the blond’s mana to his face, Zahn saw worry and exhaustion for the first time in his friend. He coughed to try and clear his throat, body still trembling and weak as he felt his mana-fueled cells slowly replenish. “Ah, yeah. I think. I got some conversations, someone new is talking about a wall. Hey,” he tried to shift the subject awkwardly, “so, I’m sorry, about... I didn’t want to, our whole reason was-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ethan’s brief vulnerability vanished behind his calm cool mask. He stood and brushed at his legs, eyes wandering the room as he avoided looking at the Custom. “We’ll fix it, it’s not as bad as it could be. You owe me, yes, but we’ll settle up. Nobody died.”

Trying to get up from the floor proved still impossible as Zahn’s depleted body struggled to use multiple limbs. Ethan stalked out the double doors leaving Zahn under the care of a dozen hulking tribesmen as they gathered around the table once more.

Gardor bodily hauled the weak Player into his previous chair, settling Zahn in the same spot at the table as before. The wooden furniture smelled slightly of smoke, as if he’d been practicing woodburning all afternoon.

“So, tell us.” Jadfbug’s kindly voice no longer sounded like a genial neighbor as his steady gaze bore into Zahn’s own. “What did you learn?”

Blinking and averting his eyes, Zahn bounced from one Gladiator to another as they waited on his news. Clearing his throat again, he felt the dryness from the last memory creeping in from his skin again. “Multiple memories, maybe more than one conversation. Ringmaster showed up red, and Three’s mind was colored green. I’m pretty sure the silver voice was One, but it’s hard to tell. At least, she’s the only woman here I’ve seen.”

Gardor chuckled and opened his mouth only for his chieftain to slap the young man’s face closed again. “Continue.”

“Ah,” Now that he was trying to express the brief memories, Zahn found himself unsure what they even cared about or wanted to hear. “Well, there were at least two others, some yellow guy and I think the Shaman was there. Yellow was talking about installing a metal wall, and Brouhaman was saying it could be done quickly. ‘Sealing the opening’ was part of the conversation, and -” Zahn sat up straight, feeling his back groan in protest. “Me! Four was talking about me! They’re going to seal me in during the Match!”

“With a metal wall, no less. Sounds like you’re out of time, little cheat.”

Murmurs broke out around the table as Gardor looked to his chief for permission to speak. “I told you we needed to bring women this year. Why, if they don’t get practice then my dear sister has no chance of -”

“That challenge is neither here nor bound to these customs,” Jadfbug interrupted the club-wielder. “If the morning comes when you are able to best Dalbug then yes, I may be able to say I am the father of Garfdor. You will not rise to chieftain without challenge, and your sibling may well take the mantle without you. Until such a contest, your duty is to assist your friend. Spend your time pondering how to breach metal, else you are complicit in allowing your ally to remain imprisoned.”

Looking between the two men Zahn could see a faint resemblance around the cheekbones, prompting the first thought in his head to spill out. “Why the deuce would a wild tribe send their chieftain to a deathmatch? You’re the bleeding chief.”

Jadfbug and Gardor turned to stare at him in unison, letting the moment drag out.

“He sounds like Marus,” the younger one offered.

“Indeed,” the chieftain carefully agreed. “To answer you, our tribe has no fear as we travel and train. My mother is at home. Our people are safe. I am here to ensure the training of our next generation of scouts and defenders. In our home, the greatest of warriors becomes the next chieftain and can claim the ‘Uff’ to his name. Daily management falls to our venerable matrons during the travel months.”

Before Zahn could open his mouth and stick his foot in it again, the massive hulks rose to their feet. Being the only one still sitting and already smaller than the rest, the Custom felt like the only child at an important meeting.

“And now, the eve draws close. Out you get, your partner is waiting on the sands.”

Nodding meekly at Jadfbug’s stern voice, Zahn stood on shaky legs and wobbled out the room. The warm orange glow from behind vanished when the thick double doors closed, leaving him shivering and weak as he stood under twilight.

“Come on,” Ethan’s voice sounded suddenly from the left and made him jump in his skin. “You have work to do, Two’s already messaged me.”

Nodding again, Zahn followed the other Player as quickly as his shuffling feet would let him. Reaching their own commons had Ethan hopping foot to foot with impatience, his face clearly showing the argument he wanted to start already.

As the pair reached their own commons, they found a certain sneak lounging on their couches as he baked his sides on the hearth. “Took you long enough. Save me any steaks?”

“Hardly,” the blond tossed something plate-like to him from his hip bag. “Brain-boy over there spent a fuckin’ hour picking through memories and the bulks ate most of it. Did you bring something? Anything?”

“Oh, I’m fine, thanks for asking.” Two bit sections off the thick slab of meat as he answered. “I picked a fight with the mother of last night’s dinner, and she smelled her kid on my breath. Awkward. But hey, at least One was nearby with her blood fuckery. But really, just downright touching that you care.”

Zahn gingerly sat on an open couch, feeling his limbs tremble as soon as he tried to relax them. Watching the other two go back and forth caused a bubble of emotion to swell in his chest, making it harder to breathe as he missed banter with old friends. He was lost in old memories of dead heroes when Two brought out a spherical cage from somewhere inside his tan clothes.

“You said you’d need another sacrifice. Hope this one works, I can’t exactly smuggle out a whole turkey every time you need to resurrect your pet.”

Ethan snatched the small cage and peered inside, grinning at its occupant. “Perfect. No, we needed to bring him back to life last time. Now we just need to bring him back; he was only banished. And this lil’ guy should have plenty of life in him.”

Holding the captured creature higher, Zahn was able to see into the cage to find one of the tiny yellow birds that usually kept to their flock. The swarm always moved in unison, feeding and drinking one at a time as the cluster remained together as much as possible. With a single yellow bird in the ball, it was easier to see the beast had an upwards curve from head to tail feathers giving it the appearance of a small four-pointed yellow star in flight.

“These are about the only size creature I can hold in a prison that small. I could fit a larger cage under my cloak, but I’d have to explain its disappearance later. What’s it take to get started?” Two’s lounging position was abandoned as the thin man stood and stretched.

“Just need Z to fix the wall, and it’ll be active again,” Ethan’s distracted wave indicating the other Player. “Wake up sleepy. You have some repairs to make. Chop chop.”

Zahn groaned and heaved himself to his feet, feeling the world spin as his head throbbed from the movement. “May as well. We ain’t here to fuck crawlers.”

Two and Ethan exchanged a look before the pair turned to him in unison. “What the Hell?” Ethan spouted at the Custom.

“You mean Chaos,” the sneak corrected him. “Locals say Chaos, we don’t have a myth for ‘Hell’ like you do. You’re just giving yourself away. But as for you…”

“Maybe that’s what they meant,” the Warlock offered. “You sounded just like Three there. The Barbs said you’d be changed, but I didn’t expect you to pick up his personality.”

“Your dialect was uncanny,” Two added with a nod. “If I didn’t already know both of you, I’d think he was somewhere in the room. Even your voice’s pitch changed slightly, and got more gravelly.”

Shuddering at the mention of gravel, Zahn stode around his couch towards Ethan’s room. “Can we just get on with this? I’m fucking exhausted, I’ll probably get some real sleep tonight.”

“Not a good idea,” Two’s voice followed the Players as they left the commons. “You should be studying your Tome and channeling Meditation to get rest. Real mages never sleep.”

“You’re the only one here who’s not a mage,” the ‘lock grumbled under his breath. Ethan tugged at the blanket draped over a certain rectangle to reveal the broken tablet Zahn had spent so many hours painstakingly carving.

“Wow, you’re just so nice to my work.” The Custom traced the cracks with his fingertips, feeling where the complex pattern’s lines broke. “Remind me to lend you my things sometime.”

“It’s not like that,” the blond protested. “I kept seeing the fucking thing in my sleep, it was always looking at me. I had to break it and cover the ruins just to stop that fucking feeling up my back.”

Two slipped into the room, settling on the bed before either Player could speak up. “Yeesh, I see what you mean. Even broken, that little decoration is making my skin crawl.”

Zahn glanced at the strange pair before turning back to his creation. The figure-eight pattern made up of squares or triangles was certainly bizarre, but after pouring so much sweat into his art he felt a certain fondness for it. He wasn’t willing to call the carving beautiful, but something about it almost called to him as if the pattern would reveal more if he could just see it from another angle.

Gently touching one of the jagged cracks, the Custom willed his mana to flow down his arm once more. Zahn could feel his body’s complaints, with each depleted cell begging to keep its mana as dribbles of the precious power flowed by. Channeling his cast, he pushed the Mend spell until he could see its green glow wrap around the entire rectangle to fix the project in a single go. “Mend.”

The emerald light enveloped his carving like the gentle hug from a mother as the spell took hold, sealing the damage uniformly until only the carved Chaos patterns remained. Zahn let out a sigh as the shifting runes began to move again, once again at ease with the world.

Two and Ethan let out a synchronized hiss as they both took in a reflexive breath. Zahn looked over to find them wearing nearly identical expressions of distaste and unease.

“I see what you mean,” the sneak murmured as he plucked the cage from Ethan’s grip and passed it to Zahn. “Kindly complete the ritual for us Zee, I don’t think either of us are inclined to touch your little art project.”

Trying not to be offended at the casual insult, the Custom accepted his prisoner and worked the tiny door. Grabbing the small bird in his fist, he could feel its wings and heartbeat pounding rapidly together as it fruitlessly pecked at his fingers.

Giving the uncomfortable pair another glance, Zahn turned and slammed his palm against the upper section of the eight. He felt bad as the tiny life extinguished, but even the sudden violence didn’t make him feel any better about his hard work being dismissed.

In his grouchy state he stood staring at the bloody mess for several breaths before something suddenly appeared within his spellform. As if the entwined openings were indeed portals to another realm, something shifted and showed itself where the stone was previously smooth. From behind the upper loop great carved stone teeth as long and sharp as swords slammed together around the bird’s corpse. The massive mouth worked at the bloody smear before opening again and slamming shut around it entirely, taking the blood and body away and leaving the smooth rock clean again.

Zahn looked back at the grimacing duo with wide eyes as they didn’t react to the mystery monster at all. “Did you see that?” He squeaked out with a small voice before Ethan stood up.

“Yeah, it vanished. Happens every time. You didn’t need to smash the poor thing though.” The blond Warlock either didn’t care about the hidden beast or never saw the issue Zahn took with the mystery. He placed his own hand against the lower loop and waited for a moment, before the space in front of the spellform flickered and warped.

Iengoris the imp returned to the Physical Realm, popping to life and landing on his Master’s shoulder. The small demon immediately began screeching and chattering in his human’s ear, driving Two to stand and pull Zahn into the commons with him.

“Successful. Fascinating, but I never want to see a Warlock’s summons again. Look at me,” turning Zahn and gripping him at the shoulders, the sneak leaned in and stared at the Player’s eyes. “Hmm. Three has a few violent tendencies, but I don’t recall him ever butchering sparrows. That might have just been you.” Releasing the Custom, he straightened up and gave him a stern glare.

“You need to stop fucking around. You’re running out of time, Zahn. I’ve bought you as much as I can, but they’re moving on the day of the Match. Something’s going to happen, and -”

“Yeah, they’re installing a metal wall.” As soon as he blurted it out, Zahn felt stupid for not telling Two something that important sooner. “Ah, fuck. How the hell am I going to get past fuckin’ metal?”

“Chaos,” Two correct him as he stared off into nothing. “You mean Chaos. We have a few days left, but I think your answers are going to be more magical than physical. You need to learn as much as you can from your Tome, even if we give you as much practice time as possible.”